Lynn W. Enquist

Who is Lynn W. Enquist?

Lynn W. Enquist is Henry L. Hillman Professor in Molecular Biology and Professor in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute at Princeton University. He was chair of the department of Molecular Biology, 2004-2013 .

He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University in 1971 with S. Gaylen Bradley studying streptomyces biology. He did postdoctoral training at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology from 1971 to 1973 studying bacteriophage lambda replication and recombination with Ann Skalka. He served in the Public Health Service from 1973-1981. He was a senior staff fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the laboratory of Dr. Philip Leader working with Robert Weisberg from 1974-1977 studying bacteriophage lambda site-specific recombination and development of recombinant DNA technology. He accepted a tenured staff position in the National Cancer Institute in 1977 where he continued the development of recombinant DNA technology and also began his work on neurotropic herpes viruses. In 1981 he left the National Cancer Institute to be Research Director at Molecular Genetics Incorporated in Minnetonka, Minnesota where he worked on recombinant DNA based viral vaccines. In 1984, he joined DuPont as a Research Leader where he ran a laboratory studying neurotropic viruses. In 1990, he joined DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company where he was a Senior Research Fellow working on developing neurotropic viruses as tools for gene therapy and studying the mammalian nervous system. In 1993, he accepted the position of tenured full professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. His research interests are in the field of neurovirology, specifically on the mechanisms of herpesvirus spread and pathogenesis in the mammalian nervous system. He teaches an undergraduate course in virology and won the President’s award for teaching excellence in 2001.